Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick

How Europe's top bosses rate Ralf Rangnick

Monday 29 November 2021 17:30

Manchester United's new interim manager Ralf Rangnick has been cited as one of the most influential figures in modern European football.

Through a coaching career which spans almost four decades, Rangnick has helped inspire several Champions League winners and half a dozen of the Bundesliga's top clubs are currently staffed by coaches who could be described as being among his disciples. 

Here's what five top European managers have had to say about our new boss...

JULIAN NAGELSMANN

The Bayern Munich boss was brought to RB Leipzig by sporting director Rangnick in 2019 and counts the 63-year-old as a mentor. Here's what he said on Friday, after rumours of Rangnick's impending arrival broke:

“I texted him and told him I think it's great. He will do very well for United with the way he plays football. I believe they will play good games in the next few weeks and I hope he'll stay there longer than just next summer.”

United appoint Rangnick as interim manager

 Article

One of European football's most respected coaches is excited to be arriving at the club.

JURGEN KLOPP

The Liverpool manager is probably the most notable proponent of Gegenpressing, the all-action counter-pressing style first developed by Rangnick in the 1990s. Klopp believes he is a great fit for United, telling the media:

“Yeah, unfortunately, a good coach is coming to England, to Manchester United. That's how it is. He’s obviously a really, really experienced manager. He built most famously two clubs from nowhere to proper threats and proper forces in Germany with Hoffenheim and Leipzig. He's done a lot of different jobs in football but always his first concern was being a coach actually, being a manager, and that's what his best skill is. United will be organised, I think, on the pitch. I think we should realise that and that's obviously not good news for other teams.”

THOMAS TUCHEL

The German who has managed some of the biggest clubs in European football, including Champions League holders Chelsea, began his coaching career in 2000 when hired by Rangnick at VFB Stuttgart. Tuchel said: 

“He helped me a lot because he was my coach and then he was one of the main figures to convince me to try coaching, so he had a huge influence on all of us at this time. He showed us it is not necessary to follow people to the toilet in football games because that was the belief: that defenders follow their strikers wherever they go, but he showed it was possible to defend in a zone.”

JESSE MARSCH

Marsch is the current RB Leipzig manager and was assistant to Rangnick at the club in 2018/19, before a two-season stint at RB Salzburg. Here he is talking to The Coaches' Voice last year:

“Getting to know him then introduced me to a lot more detail in the game, and a deeper way of thinking about football. He has gone on to be a huge influence on me and my philosophy. It’s no surprise to me that so many successful coaches – such as Thomas Tuchel, Ralph Hasenhuttl, Jurgen Klopp and Julian Nagelsmann – have learned from Ralf. The intensity he demands from his players is infectious. His modern style of football has had a huge impact on so many different clubs and coaches in Germany.”

OLIVER GLASNER

Currently at Eintracht Frankfurt, Glasner has also managed LASK and Wolfsburg since being hired by Ralf as assistant coach at RB Salzburg in 2012. He said this about United's new interim boss:

“Ralf is someone who loves to move things on, 24 hours a day. I like his drive towards improving and developing things, and his attention to detail. He’s very, very demanding, but it’s never personal. He wants the project to move forward. I remember once winning 7-0 and he wasn’t totally happy. He felt we could have scored four or five more goals.”

Recommended: